ismail al aljazari redirects here for other people with the name see aljazari surname the elephant clock was one of the most famous inventions of aljazari bad azzaman ab lizz ibn isml ibn arrazz aljazar 11361206 arabic ipa life story diagram of a hydropowered perpetual flute from the book of knowledge of ingenious mechanical devices by aljazari in 1206 the only biographical information known about him is contained in his famed book of knowledge of ingenious mechanical devices aljazari was part of a tradition of artisans and was thus more a practical engineer than an inventor some of his devices were inspired by earlier devices such as one of his monumental water clocks which was based on that of a pseudoarchimedes mechanisms and methods the most significant aspect of aljazaris machines are the mechanisms components ideas methods and design features which they employ camshaft a camshaft a shaft to which cams are attached was introduced in 1206 by aljazari who employed them in his automata crankshaft and crankslider mechanism the eccentrically mounted handle of the rotary quernstone in fifth century bce spain that spread across the roman empire constitutes a crank in 1206 aljazari invented an early crankshaft he used the crankshaft with a connecting rod in two of his waterraising machines the crankdriven saqiya chain pump and the doubleaction reciprocating piston suction pump design and construction methods english technology historian donald hill writes we see for the first time in aljazaris work several concepts important for both design and construction the lamination of timber to minimize warping the static balancing of wheels the use of wooden templates a kind of pattern the use of paper models to establish designs the calibration of orifices the grinding of the seats and plugs of valves together with emery powder to obtain a watertight fit and the casting of metals in closed mold boxes with sand escapement mechanism in a rotating wheel aljazari invented a method for controlling the speed of rotation of a wheel using an escapement mechanism mechanical controls according to donald hill aljazari described several early mechanical controls including a large metal door a combination lock and a lock with four bolts segmental gear a segmental gear is a piece for receiving or communicating reciprocating motion from or to a cogwheel consisting of a sector of a circular gear or ring having cogs on the periphery or face professor lynn townsend white jr wrote segmental gears first clearly appear in aljazari in the west they emerge in giovanni de dondis astronomical clock finished in 1364 and only with the great sienese engineer francesco di giorgio 1501 did they enter the general vocabulary of european machine design waterraising machines aljazaris hydropowered saqiya chain pump device aljazari invented five machines for raising water in the 12th and 13th centuries and described them in 1206 it was in these waterraising machines that he introduced his most important ideas and components saqiya chain pumps the first known use of a crankshaft in a chain pump was in one of aljazaris saqiya machines the concept of minimizing intermittent working is also first implied in one of aljazaris saqiya chain pumps which was for the purpose of maximising the efficiency of the saqiya chain pump aljazari also constructed a waterraising saqiya chain pump which was run by hydropower rather than manual labour though the chinese were also using hydropower for chain pumps prior to him saqiya machines like the ones he described have been supplying water in damascus since the 13th century up until modern times doubleaction suction pump with valves and reciprocating piston motion citing the byzantine siphon used for discharging greek fire as an inspiration the first known use of a true suction pipe which sucks fluids into a partial vacuum in a pump the first application of the doubleacting principle the conversion of rotary to reciprocating motion via the crankconnecting rod mechanism aljazaris suction piston pump could lift 136 metres of water water supply system aljazari developed the earliest water supply system to be driven by gears and hydropower which was built in 13th century damascus to supply water to its mosques and bimaristan hospitals the system had water from a lake turn a scoopwheel and a system of gears which transported jars of water up to a water channel that led to mosques and hospitals in the city automata aljazari built automated moving peacocks driven by hydropower mark e rosheim summarizes the advances in robotics made by muslim engineers especially aljazari as follows unlike the greek designs these arab examples reveal an interest not only in dramatic illusion but in manipulating the environment for human comfort thus the greatest contribution the arabs made besides preserving disseminating and building on the work of the greeks was the concept of practical application this was the key element that was missing in greek robotic science the arabs on the other hand displayed an interest in creating humanlike machines for practical purposes but lacked like other preindustrial societies any real impetus to pursue their robotic science drinkserving waitress one of aljazaris humanoid automata was a waitress that could serve water tea or drinks the drink was stored in a tank with a reservoir from where the drink drips into a bucket and after seven minutes into a cup after which the waitress appears out of an automatic door serving the drink handwashing automaton with flush mechanism aljazari invented a hand washing automaton incorporating a flush mechanism now used in modern flush toilets it features a female humanoid automaton standing by a basin filled with water when the user pulls the lever the water drains and the female automaton refills the basin peacock fountain with automated servants aljazaris peacock fountain was a more sophisticated hand washing device featuring humanoid automata as servants which offer soap and towels mark e rosheim describes it as follows pulling a plug on the peacocks tail releases water out of the beak as the dirty water from the basin fills the hollow base a float rises and actuates a linkage which makes a servant figure appear from behind a door under the peacock and offer soap when more water is used a second float at a higher level trips and causes the appearance of a second servant figure with a towel musical robot band aljazaris musical robot band aljazaris work described fountains and musical automata in which the flow of water alternated from one large tank to another at hourly or halfhourly intervals this operation was achieved through his innovative use of hydraulic switching aljazari created a musical automaton which was a boat with four automatic musicians that floated on a lake to entertain guests at royal drinking parties professor noel sharkey has argued that it is quite likely that it was an early programmable automata and has produced a possible reconstruction of the mechanism it has a programmable drum machine with pegs cams that bump into little levers that operated the percussion the drummer could be made to play different rhythms and different drum patterns if the pegs were moved around clocks aljazari constructed a variety of water clocks and candle clocks these included a portable waterpowered scribe clock which was a meter high and half a meter wide reconstructed successfully at the science museum in 1976 aljazari also invented monumental waterpowered astronomical clocks which displayed moving models of the sun moon and stars candle clocks one of aljazaris candle clocks according to donald hill aljazari described the most sophisticated candle clocks known to date hill described one of aljazaris candle clocks as follows the candle whose rate of burning was known bore against the underside of the cap and its wick passed through the hole wax collected in the indentation and could be removed periodically so that it did not interfere with steady burning the bottom of the candle rested in a shallow dish that had a ring on its side connected through pulleys to a counterweight as the candle burned away the weight pushed it upward at a constant speed the automata were operated from the dish at the bottom of the candle no other candle clocks of this sophistication are known aljazaris candle clock also included a dial to display the time and for the first time employed a bayonet fitting a fastening mechanism still used in modern times elephant clock elephant clock the elephant clock described by aljazari in 1206 is notable for several innovations it was the first clock in which an automaton reacted after certain intervals of time in this case a humanoid robot striking the cymbal and a mechanical robotic bird chirping and the first water clock to accurately record the passage of the temporal hours to match the uneven length of days throughout the year automatic castle clock of aljazari 14th century copy castle clock further information clock tower aljazaris largest astronomical clock was the castle clock which was a complex device that was about 11 feet 34m high and had multiple functions besides timekeeping it included a display of the zodiac and the solar and lunar orbits and an innovative feature of the device was a pointer in the shape of the crescent moon which travelled across the top of a gateway moved by a hidden cart and caused automatic doors to open each revealing a mannequin every hour another innovative feature was the ability to reprogram the length of day and night in order to account for their changes throughout the year another feature of the device was five automata musicians who automatically play music when moved by levers operated by a hidden camshaft attached to a water wheel weightdriven water clocks aljazari invented water clocks that were driven by both water and weights these included geared clocks and a portable waterpowered scribe clock which was a meter high and half a meter wide the scribe with his pen was synonymous to the hour hand of a modern clock aljazaris famous waterpowered scribe clock was reconstructed successfully at the science museum london in 1976 miniature paintings alongside his accomplishments as an inventor and engineer aljazari was also an accomplished artist in the book of knowledge of ingenious mechanical devices he gave instructions of his inventions and illustrated them using miniature paintings a medieval style of islamic art one of aljazaris candle clocks the musical robot band designed by aljazari a table device automaton designed by aljazari the handwashing automaton with a flush mechanism designed by aljazari aljazaris hydropowered saqiya chain pump device an illustration of a device invented by aljazari a sketch of a device designed by aljazari from the manuscript of kitabal alhial in aga khan museum toronto ban ms hero of alexandria history of the internal combustion engine list of inventions in the medieval islamic world islamic golden age science in the medieval islamic world lists of muslim scientists and scholars arab agricultural revolution taqi addin muhammad ibn maruf notes ulrich alertz the horologium of hrn alrashd presented to charlemagne an attempt to identify and reconstruct the clock using the instructions given by aljazar in zielinski siegfried frlus eckhard 2010 variantology on deep time relations of arts sciences and technologies in the arabicislamic world and beyond distributed art pub incorporated isbn9783865607324 beckwith guy v 1 october 1997 readings in technology and civilization pearson custom publishing isbn9780536005793 clauspeter haase modest variationstheoretical tradition and practical innovation in the mechanical arts from antiquity to the arab middle ages in zielinski siegfried frlus eckhard 2010 variantology on deep time relations of arts sciences and technologies in the arabicislamic world and beyond distributed art pub incorporated isbn9783865607324 alhassan ahmad y hill donald 1992 islamic technology an illustrated history cambridge university press isbn9780521422390 hill donald 2012 the book of knowledge of ingenious mechanical devices kitb f ma rifat aliyal alhandasiyya springer science business media isbn9789401025737 hill donald 2013 a history of engineering in classical and medieval times routledge isbn9781317761570 hill donald 1998 studies in medieval islamic technology from philo to aljazar from alexandria to diyr bakr ashgate isbn9780860786061 george saliba blurred edgesat the intersection of science culture and art in zielinski siegfried frlus eckhard 2010 variantology on deep time relations of arts sciences and technologies in the arabicislamic world and beyond distributed art pub incorporated isbn9783865607324 amnon shiloah the paradigmaticindividualistic approach of arab musical creativeness in zielinski siegfried frlus eckhard 2010 variantology on deep time relations of arts sciences and technologies in the arabicislamic world and beyond distributed art pub incorporated isbn9783865607324 eilhard wiedemann on musical automata in zielinski siegfried frlus eckhard 2010 variantology on deep time relations of arts sciences and technologies in the arabicislamic world and beyond distributed art pub incorporated isbn9783865607324 hill donald r 2008 aljazar bad alzamn ablizz isml ibn alrazzz complete dictionary of scientific biography encyclopediacom wikimedia commons has media related to aljazari a digital manuscript edition of the book of knowledge of ingenious mechanical devices direct link aljazari the mechanical genius at muslimheritagecom the machines of aljazari and taqi aldin at muslimheritagecom how islamic inventors changed the world article in the independent al jazaris book the book of knowledge of ingenious mechanical devices authority control worldcat identities bnf cb14511571x data gnd 119048973 isni 0000 0000 8103 8836 lccn n80013610 selibr 33007 sudoc 072508280 viaf 24833829 